


Cleaning Day

by Emanemmy12



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 02:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3101786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emanemmy12/pseuds/Emanemmy12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: domestic aus</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cleaning Day

The more time that Root spent in Shaw’s apartment, the more frequently she would notice just how dirty the place seemed to be. It wasn’t that Shaw was untidy. No, everything had it’s place and consequently was arranged in a way that left plenty of space. But the uncleanliness was frequently from food crumbs in strange spaces. The way that Shaw ate was rather singular and Root would often find crumbs from something when she was least expecting it. Like that time she had to get up to go to the bathroom and found what she hoped was jam on the flusher on the toilet. This surprise spurred in Root the inner neat freak and she began to take it upon herself to clean things whenever she stayed over.

It seemed that Shaw was so oblivious to cleaning that the only cleaning supplies in the apartment, if it could even be called that, had been laundry detergent before Root got a stash of various things. The part that annoyed Root was not the actual cleaning, she had always had enjoyed making sure things were pristine, but that Shaw never seemed affected one way or the other. It was as if she didn’t notice the mess. The shelves were properly lined with books, but they were completely dusty. It was just such a strange dichotomy in Root’s mind. Though honestly, she liked things to be clean, but Root was often a bit cluttered. If she was being honest, Root would have loved a thank you or some sort of acknowledgment of what she had done for Shaw. But alas, she got nothing. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she only cleaned when Shaw wasn’t there. Root shook her head in her musings. She sighed and set her coat on the hanger as she walked in. The lights were off and that meant that Shaw wasn’t in. She nodded to herself. She preferred to clean while Shaw wasn’t here. It wasn’t actually her place of residence so she didn’t want to get in trouble for doing something that she wasn’t supposed to. With a grin, Root moved into the space and flicked on a few lights as she entered. She rolled up her sleeves and made sure to tie up her hair. Root didn’t like putting her hair up, but it often got in the way when she cleaned. 

Her weapons in hand, Root went about sanitizing the kitchen. This was the last of her big projects simply because it was the worst in terms of cleanliness. She knew how much Shaw enjoyed cooking and food in general so that was the part of the place that she avoided the most. Root grinned and put her headphones on over her ears and turned on her music. It was times like this that she was reminded of the time spent in the hands of Control. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought as she sprayed some cleaner on the stove. Root had learned to live with over the ear headphones by now, but before she’d never used them. It just wasn’t the same. She shrugged and went about getting rid of the caked grease and other food products. Root supposed that someone else would have found the work either gross or tedious, but cleaning for some reason had always put her mind at ease. Perhaps that was because it was the only thing that she really could do when her mother was sick and after Hanna. When she cleaned, Samantha had been in control. That mentality had stayed with Root. She could never know when her mother would take a turn for the worse or when she’d find that they didn’t have enough money for something that month. Root’s back tensed as her mind wandered to these thoughts, though it didn’t register in her mind. Instead she focused on a particularly stuck on piece of….something. Root wrinkled her nose in disgust and put a little bit more elbow grease into the action. After this was done, she was planning on tackling the dust that she knew must be on top of the cupboards. A determined demeanor came over her and she shut off the part of her brain that wanted to wander to the past.

This was how Shaw found her about an hour later, standing on the counter top, dusting the top of the cupboards. It was quite the impressive sight as not only did it give Shaw a good view of Root’s ass, but Root was also just slightly too tall to stand up straight so she was sort of hunched over. She quirked up an eyebrow and stood to watch for a few minutes. An even greater surprise was when Root started to hum. Shaw had caught a glimpse of the cable, but couldn’t quite see the actual headphones from her eye line, so to hear the low hum of an unrecognizable tune was a bit of a shock. Root wasn’t one for singing, but Shaw had always loved her voice. The way that it just seemed to wrap itself into her brain and cling there to tease her at the most annoying times. Root was very annoying, but the kind of annoying that was endearing. She smiled then, watching her girlfriend unknowingly make a fool out of herself. The humming was nice though. Root could carry a tune for sure. Then the thought occurred to Shaw that the counters where fairly slippery and Root was wearing socks. Concerned, Sameen moved further into the kitchen, not bothering to take off her coat or shoes. “Root,” she called, hoping that the music wasn’t turned up too loud. “Get down from there.”

Root turned, startled and teetered for a second. Shaw shot forward and grabbed the other woman’s legs to keep her balance. Sheepishly, Root clambered down, but Shaw just let her hands run up the other woman’s sides as she got on level ground. “I wasn’t expecting you back so early,” Root said, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. 

”I didn’t know you were fond of acrobatics.” 

Root shook her head. “No, I was cleaning, actually.”

Shaw gripped Root’s shirt, bunching the fabric up absent-mindedly as they spoke. “Is that so? Why?”

Root tilted her head and tried to think of a way to say what she wanted to say nicely before just giving up. This was Sameen who she was talking to. Niceness wasn’t really a necessity. “Despite your good organizational skills, your apartment is very unclean.”

Shaw blinked and shrugged. “Ok.” She paused and then gave Root a scrutinizing look. “Do you mind cleaning?” 

”No, I actually kind of like it.” She scrunched her nose, not enjoying admitting such an odd thing. The smile on Shaw’s face told her another story however. “Is that ok?”

”Anything so I don’t have to do it,” Shaw instead, shifting up to pull Root into a kiss. There wasn’t any more cleaning that got finished that day.

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy! I also had the thought of Root in an apron. ;)


End file.
